The Carolina Panthers fired head coach Matt Rhule after a 1-4 start to this season. The decision was made following the Panthers’ 37-15 loss to the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday.
Panthers owner David Tepper said that Rhule had been fired due to an inability to “get over the hump.”
“It’s winning. It’s winning,” he said. “Winning more this year than you did last year. Looking like you’re going to win more than you did last year. By that definition, I don’t think we’re over the hump.”
Rhule was fired less than three years into his $62 million, seven-year contract. In more than two seasons in Carolina, he went 11-27 with a 28.9 winning percentage. During Rhule’s tenure, the Panthers went 1-27 when allowing 17 or more points, including 25 losses in a row. Before this season’s awful start, Rhule was 5-11 in 2020 and 5-12 last season.
The 47-year-old coach dodged the question asking about his future with the team after Sunday’s loss, wanting instead to talk about the game.
“I hope you guys can understand, I’m here to talk about the game,” Rhule said, as quoted by Steve Reed of the Associated Press. “I’ve always been very forthright with you guys. You know, I have nothing to say about that now. I’m really just here to talk about the game. I would never want to make this about me.”
Tepper said that he had informed Rhule about the Panthers’ decision Monday morning. However, he refused to go into detail about when he decided to fire Rhule. Instead, he pointed out that the stadium was overrun by the Niners fans.
“We had 63,000 butts in seats,” the Panthers CEO said. “Unfortunately, there were too many red butts in seats this week. That was not the reason, THE reason for (the firing). As I said, we just can’t get over the hump.”
Because Matt Corral suffered a foot injury and Sam Darnold sustained a high ankle sprain in August, Carolina had to make a move with Baker Mayfield. After three games, Mayfield had the lowest quarterback rating of 16.5 among passers.
Rhule’s replacement
Carolina has replaced Rhule with defensive pass game coordinator Steve Wilks. Wilks led the Arizona Cardinals to a 3-13 record before his firing after one season. He was offered the position of interim head coach and accepted it.
Tepper said in late April that he believed in Rhule. On Monday, Tepper was asked about that.
“It’s a funny thing that thing called patience,” Tepper said. “If you ask the average fan out there they’d say I’ve been ridiculously patient.”
After the season, Wilks could be in line for a full-time job as head coach. Tepper said that it would be determined by how the Panthers finish the season. He also indicated that the next coach would not be given a seven-year contract like Rhule.
“We have to figure out how to get a culture of winning, which we haven’t had a long time this place,” Tepper said. “This team has never had two winning seasons. So I don’t really think it ever had a real culture of winning.”
Aside from Rhule, the Panthers also fired defensive coordinator Phil Snow on Monday. Snow joined Carolina in 2020 with Rhule. He had previous experience working with Rhule, including at Baylor.
The Panthers have allowed 24.4 points per game and 356.2 yards per game this season.